Thursday, May 16, 2013

Game 41: Nats at Padres

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Stephen Strasburg makes his first career start at Petco Park.

In a career that has spanned 53 starts, Stephen Strasburg has pitched in 15 different big-league cities, though never in his hometown of San Diego. Tonight, the hometown hero finally gets to cross that milestone off his bucket list, taking the mound at Petco Park for the Nationals' series opener against the Padres. Of far greater concern to Strasburg and the Nats than the location of this outing: How well he pitches tonight after his fifth inning meltdown against the Cubs on Saturday.

The Nationals' struggling lineup could get a jolt with Bryce Harper back after missing the last two games following his collision with the fence in L.A. (He did come off the bench last night to pinch-hit late.) The Nats could certainly use their best hitter again, though of course only if he's healthy enough to perform at his peak level.

Speaking of health, Wilson Ramos has officially been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a recurrence of his hamstring strain. That means Kurt Suzuki will once again become the everyday catcher, with Jhonatan Solano returning from Class AAA Syracuse to serve as his backup.

I'm not on the West Coast, but I will be talking Nats tonight on the latest edition of "The Baseball Show" on CSN. Note the delayed 11:30 p.m. EDT start time, which should fall somewhere around the fifth or sixth inning of the Nats game...

Mitch Williams just took Stras to task for showing up his infield- or of making it look that way. Eric Byrnes loves Harper and feels that he will learn to be more moderate about walls. I have been a Nats fan since day one and I spent a lot of time fussing about the media ignoring us. Not anymore. The target is firmly affixed. My problem with the daily line up fixes is this --- you need to use the same one for a period of time anywhere from a series to a week or two weeks. Same thing with fielding positions. How can anyone get in a rhythm with the shuffling around? Baseball, other work situations -- people work better when they can get comfortable for a period of time- constant changing throws people off.

He made a good point. You don't see the fielders huffing and puffing when a pitch ends up in the seats. They support Stras. Heck, even his last start, the defense threw out a baserunner to prevent a triple. Strasburg really needs to mature.

Having said that, I have no doubt he will. I know some here have practically been ready to ship him off. I'm not even close to that point. He'll get it together. He's too good not to.

Moore was in tune when he came up last year b/c he was playing everyday in Syracuse, banging home runs and just being in a rhythm. Send him down to tune up again. Let Tracy back up ALR for the next month and a half or so. Then bring TyMo back in August or September. I like TyMo a lot more than Tracy, but seems unfair to kill his game by making him ride the bench right now.

Bring up Rendon to play 2B now. Let him adapt to the ML life and pitching and by August he'll be in tune as well. If Rizzo and Davey make such moves now, we'll be where we want with our young and hungry lineup for the homestretch.

Don't know if I'd have Espy opt for surgery now, b/c who would cover SS if Desi goes down for a couple weeks? Maybe still need Danny's glove. Keep Lombo as utility everything.

I think Stras will have a good outing tonight. Unlike some, I have faith that Stras is, in fact, a mentally tough guy. He certainly wasn't last outing and he's gotten rattled in the past, but over the long haul I think he will prove to be. He's smart. And he's stubborn--the kind of stubborn that learns. Write it down, write it down.

Listen, I have no desire to sit Stras, trade him, or any such thing. I just want him to clean up his act. The Nats protected him a lot from the press when he was new-- not Harper. Even last year, the organization took all the heat and he never really took a party line-- they have my best interests at heart, I will deal with it- no. He just sighed a lot and have that LOOK. He needs to get a grip and realize that he is part of a team and that kids wear his shirt and watch how he acts. Fake it if you have to. I certainly have had to do that and I am sure that you all have had to do it too. I want him on our team but I want him to man up!!

Realdealnats-- I hope you are correct!!!! And I really hope Det will be fine. If not I would go Stammen. He is pretty stretched out and would probably get better results than anyone in Syracuse. Duke can be long man. ( don't throw things at me for suggesting that!)

Let's see if they can get Zim, Harper, and Desmond hitting together and perhaps LaRoche. And somehow convince the table-setters to like THE WALK! God damn it not one of them like to walk! Except for Werth when he is in the #1/#2 slots.

"Mentally tough" and "stubborn" don't necessarily go together, or with "smart," either. There's a Spanish word, "duro," which means both "tough" and "stubborn" but in common usage carries an implication of "dumb and thick-headed." I'm beginning to think that's the word we're looking for. We'll see what happens tonight.

Did anyone see Amanda's article on Greinke? Interesting stuff. Apparently Greinke told Mark Lerner that he was right when he said the team would be good soon. Greinke didn't believe him at the time. Link:

If they're not planning to use the DL, Stammen can't be used for the next four games. Which means the starters really need to be on their games, and there's a higher chance of more innings for Duke and Henry. That's gonna be rough.

color announcer , Steve Blass, says it best. The reason people strike out a lot is simple. they swing at a lot of balls, and lett strikes go. All poorly coached or have a coach who they do not listen too and the manager doesn't care.

Via twitter- Jayson felt something in his hammy, saw the doc, doing Potomac Friday, San Diego Saturday. Back on the DL in a week ??? Wish these guys would heal completely!!! They end up missing more time this way. More bubble wrap!!!

Comack reporting about Jayson. And no, one week is not his plan, it's my fear! Ok- who is Manziel and why is it a big deal to have him around the players and have his picture taken with Davey. Can he hit?

haha. Johnny Manziel (also known as Johnny Football) is a college football player. He won the Heisman Trophy as a freshman--the first peron to ever do so. Davey is a Texas A&M alum (where Manziel) goes so that's the connection.

Venters and Hanrahan both just had Tommy John. Would not wish that on anyone. At least our guys have relatively minor stuff. Last year everyone had obliques, this year hammies. Get well, everyone, and let's play ball!!

Let's be honest, no player on this team has a good approach at the plate unless they brought it with them. That is a complete failure of player development and instruction. A bad teacher/school blames the students. Eck must go.

One thing I've read that Buck Showalter does that I think is a really good idea is to go over the home plate umpire's strikezone before the game and let that guide the hitting approach - wide zone, go patient. Small zone, go up hacking. That's something I'd like to see the Nats try.

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About the Author

Mark Zuckerman has covered the Nationals since the franchise arrived in D.C. He's been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2001 and is a Hall of Fame voter. Email mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com.